ABSTRACT
In considering the multiplicity of charitable institutions, it is wondered that a society for ascertaining the general condition of the poor had never been formed in this island. Information might be procured with great ease, and if it were well digested into annual reports, the mad schemes, upon which the force of society has been uniformly wasted, would cease, by degrees, to delude the imagination of its members; and knowledge would soon generate a spirit of humanity, too active and discerning to be content with those occasional contributions, which have much more effect in satisfying the vanity of the rich than the hunger of the poor. In Ireland poor people have enough to distend the stomach, but the diet is too meagre to support health. In England the fare is little better with shorter commons. Mr. Pitt’s objection to Dr. Price’s comparative statement goes upon the supposition that the poor are reduced to live on the potatoe.
